Assimil German (2025 Edition) Review

Assimil have recently released a new edition of their Assimil German course for English speakers, this is a translation of the most recent French course. Let’s check it out.

Assimil is a respected French language course publisher that was founded in 1929 by Alphonse Chérel. The company specialises in developing language-learning resources tailored for self-directed learners. Its debut publication, Anglais sans peine (English Without Toil), marked the start of its popular Sans Peine (With Ease) series, aimed at helping beginners achieve a B2 proficiency level in various languages. While Assimil offers courses in a wide range of languages, the selection depends on the learner’s base language, with French obviously boasting the largest selection.

I’d like to briefly touch upon the different generations of Assimil German courses that have been released over the years. Assimil courses often undergo new “editions,” which are primarily facelifts such as changes to cover art, fonts, and minor layout adjustments. To simplify, I’ve focused on the main generations of courses. The easiest way to distinguish between them is by looking at the names of the lessons, as these change significantly between major revisions.

• German without Toil (1948)
  • Original French Edition: L’allemande sans peine by A. Chéral.
  • First Lesson: Erste Lektion – Der Tee ist gut.
  • English Adaptation: Titled German without Toil, this edition was published up until the 1970s.
• German with Ease (2001)
  • French Edition: le nouveau allemand sans peine 1984, authored by Hilde Schneider.
  • First Lesson: Im Café.
  • English Adaptation: Published in 2001, translated and adapted by A. Stettler.
• German (2014)
  • French Edition: l’allemand, first published in 2004, written by Gudrun Römer.
  • First Lesson: Viel Glück!
  • English Adaptation: Published in 2014 as Assimil German, translated and adapted by Kerstin Pfeiffer.
• German (2025)
  • French Edition:  l’allemand first published in 2021, written by Bettina Schödel.
  • First Lesson: Deutsch Lernen.
  • English Adaptation: Published in 2025 as Assimil German, translated and adapted by Sonja Terrey. This is the most recent version.

Assimil employs a two-phase approach. The method consists of working your way through the first half of the course known as the passive phase (known as the ‘”receptive” phase on the newer courses) during which you immerse yourself in the language simply by reading, listening to and repeating each lesson. At lesson fifty you enter the second phase of the course which is called the active phase (or “productive”) where you go back over the previous lessons while continuing to learn the new lessons. Admittedly it can be a little confusing with some books providing different sets of instructions, check out my how to use Assimil post for tips on how to use Assimil.

The Assimil German 2025 edition contains 100 lessons with 568 pages.

• Introduction
• Pronunciation
• Lessons 1 to 100
• Grammar Notes
• German – English glossary
• English – German glossary

The book follows the classic Assimil layout which is similar to that of a parallel text, you have the target language on the left and the teaching language on the right. The lessons follow a uniform approach comprising of :

• Dialogue –   Parallel dialogues English/German
• Notes – Usually explaining small grammar points relating to the dialogue
• Translation exercises – translate German sentences into your L1 (native language/teaching language)
• Fill in the blank exercise.
• Every seventh lesson has a revision lesson that goes over various grammar points and expressions introduced in the previous lessons.

I really appreciate the layout of Assimil course, it’s simple, easy to follow, and delivers grammar in manageable, bite-sized chunks with clear notes. However, there’s one aspect of the layout I’m not entirely fond of: the phonetic transcriptions. I would prefer if the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) was used instead of phonetic transcriptions, as it provides a more accurate and standardised representation of sounds. The current phonetic transcriptions can be interpreted differently depending on your accent which can lead to inconsistencies. I understand why companies use phonetic transcriptions as it saves people from having to learn the IPA but still I feel it’s just not needed.

Overall, I found the dialogs quite enjoyable. There are always some lessons that are a bit boring or not as interesting as others but I don’t think that’s unique to Assimil and just the nature to having 100 unique dialogues.

From the above examples you can see like all Assimil courses, the German course comes with two types of exercises: translating sentences from German to English and filling in the blanks. If you’re someone who likes a course with a lot of challenging exercises to practice then Assimil probably isn’t the right course for you.

Grammar explanations are included as notes after the dialogue, linking back to specific parts of the dialogue where the author sees fit and explain certain expressions and constructions. Every seventh lesson is a review, designed to go over the grammar and vocabulary from the previous six lessons, sometimes with a translation dialogue thrown in. This is the standard setup for all Assimil courses.

Like all Assimil courses, cultural notes are sprinkled through the course, some are interesting and some aren’t. They cover a wide range of topics some examples are, numbers, last names, German punctuality, breakfast, proverbs, the Autobahn, Wohngemeinschaft, expressions, German regions, specialities, Oktoberfest, Ludwig II and more.

The latest Assimil German course has 2 hours, 40 minutes, which is 20 minutes less than the previous generation by Römer. All the recordings are high-quality and have been recorded by professional native speakers. Now the audio in the lessons begins quite slow and slowly picks up as you progress through the course. I would, however, prefer if it wasn’t slowed down in the beginning and natural pace throughout.

The course offers several audio options, including the Super Pack which includes the book, three audio CDs + Downloadable MP3 files. The mp3 files available online are useful as they allow for further breakdown of the audio and listening to dialogue line by line. I’ve included a SoundCloud link for you below so you listen to the sample audio for lessons 1, 50, and 100.

If you live in Europe then it shouldn’t be difficult getting a copy of the book, however it can be trickier outside of Europe. The easiest option is buying from Assimil themselves or buying through Amazon or a similar platform. The course also offers an e-method on iOS and Android, but I do not recommend it as the user experience is horrible compared to the book. Prices will differ depending on where you find them and if they are used or new (I’ve included approx prices).

Book – € 26,90
Superpack = Book + Audio CDs + Audio download € 65,90

Note – Be careful when buying the book online or second-hand, Assimil has the habit of updating the cover art without updating the book’s contents. And their ISBNs and publishing dates can be confusing. The best way to tell which edition you’re looking at is to go off the lesson titles.

This latest edition of Assimil German is a worthy edition to their German line-up, giving the course some nice new refreshed dialogs. If you’re looking at buying a German course, then this is the one I would recommend. However, if you see a previous edition cheap then I don’t think any of them are horribly out-of-date other than perhaps the very first one published in the 1940’s and that’s written in Fraktur script.

If you’ve read any of my other Assimil reviews, then you’ll know that I have to mention their B2 claims which I find to be very generous and not realistic without supplementing with other resources. So, no, you will not reach B2 using solely this course, perhaps maybe B1.

You can use the Assimil method a lot of different ways, you can follow the ‘Assimil Method’ and do the passive and active waves or just work through the course your own way. If you want to learn more about how to use Assimil then check out how to use Assimil.